UAlbany Men’s Lacrosse Officially Ranked No. 1 in the Country

UAlbany men's lacrosse is ranked No. 1 for the first time in school history. Sam Rui / ASP

It’s official: for the first time in their 19-year program history, University at Albany men’s lacrosse is the #1 team in the nation.

UAlbany, which is 2-0 to start the 2018 season, earned the top spot in the Inside Lacrosse and USILA media polls released this morning. The Great Danes received 24 of 32 first-place votes.

‘It’s great for our friends, family, the administrators, and the school,” head coach Scott Marr said. “For me, I’ve been here 18 years. For it to happen, It’s pretty neat to be honest with you. It’s nothing we set out as a goal at the beginning of the season to be number one at this point in the year or any point other than at the end of the season.”

Coming off a 15-3 dominating win over Syracuse in the Carrier Dome in their season opener and an 18-5 victory versus America East foe Drexel on Saturday, the Danes were able to leapfrog No. 1 Duke after their 10-9 loss to Penn on Saturday.

The Danes will play their first game as No. 1 when they face Cornell at Casey Stadium on Saturday at 1 p.m.

“We’re really excited and worked really hard for it,” senior attack Connor Fields said. “At the end of the day though, we’re No. 1 now but that’s not what matters. We want to be No. 1 at the end of the year.”

Head coach Scott Marr’s team had already made history, opening up the season at No. 3 in the country, their highest ever preseason ranking.

Freshman attack Tehoka Nanticoke, the No. 1 recruit in the nation coming into the season, leads the nation through the first two games, averaging four goals per game.

Rob "Lep" Lepelstat is the sports editor of the Albany Student Press. Along with the ASP, Lep works as Vice President of ATV and sports director for WCDB. During the summer of 2017, he interned at WABC-TV in New York City.

The Author

Rob Lep

Rob "Lep" Lepelstat is the sports editor of the Albany Student Press. Along with the ASP, Lep works as Vice President of ATV and sports director for WCDB. During the summer of 2017, he interned at WABC-TV in New York City.